Curated by Leo Koziol and Deborah Walker-Morrison of the Wairoa Maori Film Festival, the following two programmes of Maori Pasifika short films will be presented at Presence Autochtone First Peoples Festival in Montreal in August.

PROGRAMME ONE: MANA WAHINE SHORTS

Short films directed and written by, or strongly featuring, Maori and Pasifika women.

Inspired by Lake Wānaka in Te Wai Pounamu, acclaimed artist Louise Potiki Bryant presents a striking dance film that explores our consciousness and emotional state, embodied within the word “roto” meaning both “lake” and “within”. With this film the lake becomes a metaphor for our consciousness, and the surface of the lake is likened to our emotional state.

MOON MELONTrina Peterrz (Samoan) 2017 9 min NZ

A group of young Polynesian women trying to break cultural boundaries and gender stereotypes within their community find themselves and something else.

MOUSE Lani-Rain Felton (Māori) 2018 15 min NZ

A couple faced with a small animal's suffering don't know what to do; she suggests stepping on its head but he prefers to cover it up. Winner - Best ActressMāori 2018 Wairoa Maori Film Festival

Two best friends become brothers as they wait for a life-changing phone-call. Winner - Best Short, NZ's Best, NZIFF 2017. TIFF 2017.

PROGRAMME TWO: MAORI PASIFIKA SHORTS

Short films directed and written by Maori and Pasifika people.

POSSUMDirector/Writer Dave Whitehead (Māori) 2017 15 min NZ

Set in New Zealand in the 1970s, Possum is a tale of two young brothers who accompany their lumberjack father to a forest campsite. At odds with each other, the two hatch a plan to head into the woods and hunt for a notorious possum named Scar. Possum is a short film based on a true story between director Dave Whitehead and his older brother Nathan, based on when they grew up in rural Wairoa. Filmed in Otaki.

HOW THE LIGHT GETS INAny Beyersdorf 2017 15 min Australia

A single mother living on the fringes of society with her two girls wakes in the night with a unique problem – a light, shining from within her – taking over her life as it takes over her body. With Whirimako Black and music by Leonard Cohen (sung by SAY LOU LOU) and composed by John Kilbey.

SALAMASINA’S DAUGHTERSAruna Po-Ching 2017 14min NZ

Salamasina’s Daughters is set in South Auckland, New Zealand, following two Samoan female chiefs, specifically orators, tulafale, a role traditionally for men only. Aruna Po-Ching follows a 73-year old grandmother and a cultural language teacher and we discover their challenges when speaking as a tulafale and what they are doing with their chief titles to serve their family and community.

MEKE Tim Worrall (Maori) 2017 8 min NZ

The arrival of a trainer's daughter into the midst of backstage preparations before an important boxing match threatens to destroy the relationship between fighter and coach. Meke – Best Actor Māori 2018 Wairoa Maori Film Festiva

KA PIKOBryson Chun (Hawaii) 2017 9 min USA/Hawaii

When his girlfriend dies during childbirth, Makana, a young Hawaiian man, must complete an indigenous birthing ritual with his girlfriend's overbearing father.

TE MAKUTU, THE CURSEJonathan Zsofi 2017 20 min NZ

Two star-crossed lovers in colonial New Zealand incur the wrath of a deadly spirit that follows them into the present where they must decide between lives apart or love and death.

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival was founded in 2005 with the purpose of supporting, recognising and presenting the indigenous storyteller narrative. We are a non profit, non political organisation Te Roopu Whakaata Maori i Te Wairoa -Wairoa Maori Film Festival Inc. (c) 2005-2014.